Canada Mountain Goat Hunt

I hunted the first week of November with Marty Lightburn of Rocky Mountain High Outfitters out of Jaffray, BC. He did a great job but was dealt a tough hand. We had terrible visibility for 5 of the 7 day hunt.

We stayed the first three days at a cabin he has up in the alpine. The cabin had been helicoptered in and was very comfortable given the near constant rain and snow. We did get out the first full day, November 7, but the goats had moved out of the area for some unknown reason.

The second day rained and we had very limited visibility so we didn't venture far from camp. A single white tail doe was spotted close by; neither of us could figure why a whitetail was so high that late in the season.

I'll not drag out the story too long but suffice to say I spent many hours, after traveling even more hours, standing around a campfire waiting for the visibility to increase to more than a couple hundred yards.

On the last day of my hunt we got a break and spotted 5 goats above us - not a good sign since we were looking for a big billy and they're normally alone. The spotting scope showed a couple of billies so we commenced our climb - only about 1700 feet vertical up a slide that wasn't all that bad of a climb.

We got into position and looked more closely at the two billies. One was older with a broken horn and the other was younger with stilleto points. I elected for the older critter 383 yards distant. The two packs made for a solid rest, the 100 gr. TSX at 3450 fps from my 25 WSM, 700 Ti hit about as perfect as I could hope and he tumbled about 75 yards down the hill - closer to the pack animals. The goat was in the red circle (above) when I shot.

That's Marty in the first image, he's a heck of a guide but I take better pictures! Billy is 8 7/8" and 5 1/2 years old, he'll be a half body mount. The image doesn't show how very well he is haired out.

Swantner-Trahan Wedding

Last weekend we traveled to Huntsville, AL, for the wedding of Rick's nephew, Dan. The best part (besides seeing Dan so happy and with a permanent grin on his face) was getting the three Swantner brothers together in the same place for the first time in years.

Dale, Ed, and Rick at the NASA rocket museum:

Rick with his nephew, Dan:

Permanent smile Dan with his new bride, Lisa:

Proud parents of the groom, Gloria & Dale:

Walter's Ferry

My life-long friend Jennifer came to Boise to visit again this year. As Rick said, I am lucky I have friends who are willing to travel across the country to come visit me. So since Jennifer flew all the way from Wisconsin to Boise, we decided to treat her to a visit to Walter's Ferry.

I had heard a lot about Walter's Ferry from my friend Mike. He goes there a lot, it seems. He never found the words to accurately describe this place, and neither will I. I certainly was not prepared for what I saw.

This place has a lot of bronze statues, like this one of Albert.

And this one of Mark.

Birdhouses, like this one, were everywhere.

And then there was real, live weirdness. While trying to photograph the peacocks, this bunny rabbit appeared from nowhere. It followed the peacock around like it was its mother, even though the peacock wanted nothing to do with the bunny.

I could go on and on sharing pictures of the things I saw at Walter's Ferry, but it's just better if you go check it out for yourself. Come visit me in Boise, and I'll take you.

Rick's Antelope

Maybe Rick will want to tell his own story. Here's mine.

Yesterday Rick got an antelope (pronghorn, actually) near Fairfield, ID. I was there. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny fall day. We had pursued this buck all morning, at least four hours, with no success. We finally decided to try to get in front of the herd, which required hiking maybe 500 ft up the side of a hill and around the rocky top. This is where I lost Rick. He had spotted the herd and told me to get down. I couldn't see the antelope, so I just stayed down about 15 ft behind him and tried to stay quiet. He was moving ahead, crouched down. I followed. The terrain was tricky with the slope, sage, and rocks. My water bottle fell from my pocket with a crash, but Rick kept going. I tried to be more careful and quiet, but that slowed me down. Rick was on a mission. He didn't look back and I was falling behind. He crossed a pile of black rocks. I heard a buzzing noise. I have never heard a rattlesnake, but somehow I knew that's what made the noise. I froze. "Rick, Rick!" I whispered as loud as I could, but he didn't hear me. He was going for that buck. The buzzing noise stopped. I made my way slowly across the rocks, but there it was again. I could tell it was a good distance away, so I kept going. I was really moving slowly now - afraid of scaring up another rattlesnake. By this time, Rick was out of sight. He had rounded side of the hill, and I wasn't sure which way to go. But then I heard a gunshot, muffled, to my right. He got the buck with one shot. I'm sorry I missed it, but hey, everyone gets their first rattlesnake experience sometime, I guess...if you live in Idaho.

Branson, MO

Two weeks ago, Rick and I flew to Kansas to meet up with my parents, and then the four of us drove to Branson, MO, for the week. Despite having lived my entire childhood in the neighboring state of Kansas and gone to college in Missouri, I had never been to Branson. Although not surprisingly, neither had Rick.

When I told my friends I was going to Branson, I received this response several times: You're not old enough to go to Branson. True, Branson is full of retired folks. I'm not sure why. I guess they really like seeing music/dance/comedy shows - clean ones, with a predominant country music and "I love the USA/thank you veterans" theme. Bus-loads of retired people come to Branson from all over the US.

Branson is weird. It is a pretty part of the US with deciduous-covered rolling hills and the huge fingered Table Rock lake that goes on for miles. It's like Vegas meets Palm Springs...with a Midwest flair.

The first weird thing was Lambert's in Ozark, MO, where we stopped for lunch. They throw hot-buttered rolls at you when you aren't looking. This place is famous. Seriously. Just ask people from the Midwest. We waited over 45 minutes to get a table.












We stayed in our own little cottage in a village with a Cape Code theme called Stormy Point. It was really very cutely decorated. Here is a shot of a couple of the units. Ours (not pictured) was yellow and had a whale on top.

While in Branson, we saw several shows. I liked Jim Stafford (guitar wizard) the best and Dixie Stampede (eating a whole chicken with your hands while cheering for the fake rodeo) the least. Bob Anderson (Rat Pack impersonator) was fantastic although surprisingly less popular with the Branson crowd. The Twelve Irish Tenors were great entertainers...and very good looking. (just Mom and I went to that show.)

We also played golf three times, which was a hoot. Branson has a LOT of courses. But we only played one: The Don Gardner par 3 municipal course. It was hilarious. First of all, there is a playground in the middle of the course. There are no identifiable fairways - it's all just grass. There are only five greens - you play holes 2-5 twice. Each green (except the first one) has two pins, a yellow one and a white one. And there are yellow and white tee boxes. I can't tell you how many times one or all of us played to the wrong pin. The course was small and easy to walk, only cost $10/person, and since there were few people there, we felt little pressure to do well or hurry up. Dad, Rick and I had a lot of fun. I even think Rick's brother, Ed, had a good time too.

My favorite place in Branson was not in Branson. Just south of Branson, hidden by the trees and sitting beside the White River, is Big Cedar Resort. Owned by the Bass Pro Shops, this is a gem of a resort tucked in the Ozark mountains. Here is a shot of one of many lodges, cabins, and cottages.

This trip was packed with good stuff (the OSU game we missed but still got free ice cream, golf and shows in Branson, seeing my grandma back in Ark City, and watching the whitetail eat apples from under the trees in my parents' yard), but one of the biggest highlights was seeing Rick's brother Ed and his wife Janet who drove up from Little Rock, AR. Rick supposes it's been 10 years since they last saw each other. It turns out that Ed and Rick look a lot alike. Except for one thing...Ed is really tall. Here we all are in the cottage.

We had a great time. Thanks to my parents for putting it all together.

New Truck

Rick decided it was time to trade in the old Chevy, so we did it. After several days of agonizing over the decision (another Silverado or the Toyota Tundra), we decided to go with the Tundra. Check it out!

E. Fork Salmon

Last weekend Rick and I "backpacked" near the E. Fork of the Salmon R. By "backpack", I mean we loaded numerous large duffel bags, a shovel, an ax, a 5 gallon container of water, a cooler of beer, a loveseat, and a chainsaw onto our four wheelers and drove our selves and our gear 4mi into the wilderness. In my opinion, there is no better way to camp. Did I mention we had a 2-inch foam bed to sleep on?

This in my third time camping with Rick in this spot. I love it because the wide open rocky high spaces feel so much like being in another world, like maybe the moon. Do flowers grow on the moon?

On Saturday, we took a drive (in the truck) up the E. Fork until the road ended at Bowery Ranger Station. The view was gorgeous.

The land around the river is a lush paradise that, in places, abruptly changes to dry, barren, treeless, desert.
We found Herd Lake.

On our way home, we rode up Kirkham Ridge trail for a stunning view of the S. Fork Payette R. at Kirkham Hot Springs.

July 4th Camp-out

This year we joined our good friends Dan and Ellisea for their annual 4th-of-July camp-out near Alturas Lake. For over 40 years, Dan and his buddies have been camping here. Now the group has grown to include children and even some grandchildren. There were over 30 people at the camp-out this year (and nearly as many dogs!)

It takes a lot of wood to support this magnitude of camp-out.

On Saturday, Rick and I took a ride to the lake on my Honda.

That night we had the biggest, and most classic, campfire ring I have ever joined. Complete with smores, dutch oven cobblers, a guitar, and sing-alongs, it was truly a traditional American celebration. (And a lot of fun.)

Sarah's Favorite Spot

Last weekend we camped at my favorite spot, north of Idaho City. We packed our stuff in on our 4-wheelers for the longest day of the year. This is the same spot we went last year on the same weekend with our friends Brandon and Jen. Last year we hiked down to a lake and found excellent trout fishing. This year, the lake was covered in snow.

Last year, on the trail and above the lake:

This year, taken from much higher up; I am pointing at the lake.

Rick's Birthday Quakie Camp

Last weekend we went camping with our friends Brent and Michael and celebrated Rick's birthday. On our way to the site we drove across the Camas Prairie. It was stunning.

Here is a close-up of the camas, which creates the sea of purple.

We camped in this stand of quakies. This is the spot where three bears entered our camp at about 4am last year. We didn't see any this time.My parents gave Rick a 5L beer keg chiller for his birthday. It was a hit!

Lime Creek Camping Trip

Rick and I went camping last weekend near Lime Creek. The desert land was unusually green and covered with wild flowers.

We camped on a knoll and had 270 degree views of the area, including the spectacular Lime Cr. canyon.

We watched a thunderstorm go by and were fortunate to endure only 30 minutes of rain while still getting to enjoy the thunder and lightning.

Puerto Rico

Two weeks ago, Rick and I went for a week's vacation in Puerto Rico with my cousins Paul and Jaime. Here are the highlights:

Day 1 - Old San Juan. My favorite part from our walking tour of Old San Juan was coming up out of the city and onto the edge of the grassy plain behind the Fort. This photo doesn't do it justice. There were tons of families all over park flying kites. So many kites! The wind was blowing at least 15mph, which felt great in the hot sun.




Day 2 - El Yunque. We rented a car and drove to the Caribbean National Tropical Forest (El Yunque.) We thought Monday would be a good day to go, fewer people. But we were wrong. It turned out Monday was a holiday. There were people everywhere! We hiked to a waterfall only to find it crawling with people. So we hiked a bit further up and found a waterfall all for ourselves.

On our way home, we stopped at what has been called the most beautiful beach on the main island of Puerto Rico - Luquillo. We grabbed some food from the beach side vendors and then took our beers to the water's edge to watch the sun set.

Day 3 - Vieques Villa. On day 3 we traveled to the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where we had rented a villa. We traveled for 1hr by taxi to Fajardo and then caught a 90min ferry over to Vieques. Check out the view from our pool!

Day 4 - R&R. Our villa on Vieques (Bravos by the Sea's Culebra villa) was fantastic. While Rick went fishing, Paul, Jaime and I felt compelled to sit by the pool and do nothing. That night we went on a tour of the bio luminescent bay. While swimming in the glowing bay was spectacular, the tour company (Abe's) was not. Letting us stand in a fire ant nest and cramming 18 people into a 10-12 passenger van is not fun!

Day 5 - Snorkeling. We spent our last day in Vieques checking out beaches and trying to find a good place to snorkel. We found some fish and a lot of starfish. That night we went to dinner at Chez Shack, located in the middle of the rain forest. The food was great. Here we are back at the villa at sunset just before dinner.

Day 6 - Old San Juan. We traveled back to Old San Juan and spent the afternoon wandering the streets and shopping. It was rainy, but that made the colors of the buildings and especially the blue brick streets of Calle Cristo stand out more.

Day 7 - More Old San Juan. Paul and Jaime went home that day. Rick and I continued to wander the streets and finish our shopping. Cigars for Dad and a Santo for Mom. That night we had a fantastic dinner at Marmalade. This OSJ photo is from Day 1 and is one of my favorites.

E. Fork Owyhee (the raft trip from hell)

Back in April, Rick and I went with some friends on the raft trip from hell. I call it this because that's what it was, and here's why:

1. The trip was 42 miles on the river and we had three days (Fri-Sun) to do it. But since the shuttle took all day, instead of 2 hours, we only made 4 mi the first day and had to paddle like hell on Saturday to make up for it. And we didn't get back to Boise until 5am on Monday.

2. Our friends were in canoes (2 people per canoe), while Rick and I were in inflatable kayaks. Canoes go fast in the water with little effort. Inflatable kayaks do not, requiring Rick and I to paddle even more like hell.

3. The rapids were bigger than I thought they would be, which made me scared. I don't like rapids.

4. There were two rapids we couldn't run and had to instead portage our boats and all of our gear (tents, etc.). The portage was long and steep and treacherous. It was the portage from hell!

OK, that all being said, the E. Fork Owyhee canyon is beautiful! The photos don't do the straight-up towering cliffs justice. We saw a lot of wildlife, and we saw no people. I heard this is the least populated area in the lower 48 states.

Here are some photos - good memories:

I woke up the first morning to find my socks frozen. This was OK because I didn't have to put them on.

This is a movie of Rick running one of the rapids that looked too scary to me. So he ran it twice, once in his boat and once in mine.

Here is a photo Mike took of the river canyon from above on the desert plain.

Here is one Klaus took of Rick and me on the water.

These are parts of the portages from hell.

And here is an attempt to show the spectacular canyon walls.

If you want to go on this trip, plan for at least 4 days and pack light!